Christmas Spirit
by oflettersandwords
Summary: It's Christmas morning of the Marauder's seventh year at Hogwarts and Sirius is very excited.
1. The Marauders

Sirius waited until his clock struck 7:00 on the dot before throwing the covers off of himself and bounding out of bed. He looked around the dormitory, quickly figuring out his best shot, and grinned slowly. With a running start, he launched himself onto Remus' bed, nearly taking down the hangings. He bounced gleefully, chanting "Moony, Moony, Moony" while Remus groaned.

"Whatsamatter?" Remus said, sleepily stringing the words together.

"Nothing's the matter!" Sirius shouted and his grin grew as he heard movement from Peter's bed. "It's Christmas! Get your miserable arse up, Moony, it's time for presents!"

Remus groaned, shooting Sirius a perturbed look, but the other boy continued to bounce on Remus' bed. Remus sat up slowly and Sirius smiled brightly at him, getting off of Remus' bed and making his way toward Peter's. He hesitated for a moment, before wrenching Peter's hangings open and jumping on top of him as well. Peter shot up, nearly hitting his head on Sirius' as Sirius pulled the pillow out from under Peter and began hitting him repeatedly with it.

"Wake up, Wormtail, its Christmas!" Peter grabbed for the pillow and a tug of war ensued before Peter finally won. He shoved Sirius off of his torso and knelt over him, beating him with the pillow.

"You do this every bloody year!" Each word was punctuated with a thump as the pillow made contact with various parts of Sirius' body. "Dammit, Padfoot! I" – _face_ – "just" – _left shoulder_ – "want" – _chest_ – "to" – _over his head_ – "relax!" Sirius managed to grab the pillow back from Peter and hastily threw it across the room while Remus watched, a small, amused smile gracing his face. He hated being woken up early, but after Sirius, he was the most personable of their group in the early mornings, which was saying something.

Peter continued sitting on Sirius, glaring at him, and mumbling under his breath. "All I want is one bloody Christmas where I'm not woken up by a lunatic jumping on me, but no."

"Well, now it's tradition for me to wake you up like that on Christmas, and you can't break tradition," Sirius said, grinning up at Peter. Peter scowled in response. "I should've bought you a muzzle."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, make a note of it for next year. Now, get off me. I need to go wake up Prongs." Peter brightened at this and got off of Sirius, even reaching down to help him off the bed.

"Don't let me stop you from that," Peter said, making shooing motions towards James' bed.

Sirius walked quietly to James' bed, amazed that James was still asleep. After all these years of sharing a dormitory with him, Sirius still couldn't believe how heavy of a sleeper James was. (Sirius was sure there was something wrong with him – it wasn't _normal_ to not be awoken by a sharp whistle from six centimeters away.)

Sirius took a deep breath and before wrenching open the hangings around the bed, much like he had done to Peter. He shot a jet of water out of the end of his wand, aiming it at James' face, as he began shouting. "PRONGS! PRONGS, WAKE UP IT'S CHRIST-" Sirius' shouting and the stream of water were cut off suddenly as he was tackled to the ground.

His breath left him as he hit the ground with an _oomf_, James landing heavily on top of him, wand pointed at Sirius' nose. Sirius' eyes crossed as he tried to see the tip of it, and James glared down at him.

"What have I told you about waking me this early if we don't have classes?" James asked lowly.

"Mate, don't you think you're overreacting just a teensy bit?" Sirius raised his eyebrows pointedly, eyeing the wand still aimed at him.

"No." James answered shortly, glaring at Sirius. His hair stuck up at all angles, his combination of bedhead and water making it worse than normal, and his pyjamas were slightly soaked, but he still looked menacing enough.

Sirius groaned. "Prongs, it's Christmas, don't be such a wanker." Sirius grinned up at him and tried to flip their positions, nearly succeeding before James took the initiative to roll off of Sirius himself and aim a mild curse at him. A brief duel ensued, until Remus disarmed the pair – "It's fairer that way, isn't it?" he asked Peter, who shrugged and replied, "Maybe not fairer, but definitely funnier to watch." – and they settled for wrestling on the ground. Remus and Peter stood to the side, watching intently and commenting to themselves.

Seven minutes later, James sat on Sirius' chest again – Remus rolled his eyes and bent to dig a knut out of his trunk for Peter- looking more disheveled than before but very pleased with himself.

"What are we not going to do anymore?" James asked.

Sirius rolled his eyes but answered, "We're not going to wake James up, unless it's important."

James smiled, satisfied, and got up off of Sirius. "So, presents?" he asked, retrieving his wand from Remus and quickly drying himself off.

Sirius shot up and bounded to the foot of his own bed, sitting down and tearing into his gifts before the other boys had so much as blinked. Remus shook his head, but closed his trunk, tossing each of the other boys the presents that he had fished out before settling in front of his own pile. Sirius smiled gleefully at the arrival of another present, and Peter and James returned to their beds as well.

He had received a warm, hand-knit jumper, a box of candies, a book about proper house care, and several other gifts from Mrs. Potter. "What'd Mum get you?" Sirius asked James as he opened his trunk to get the boys gifts.

"Jumper, sweets, the usual," James said, also digging into his trunk. Sirius, Peter, and James handed out their gifts before the Marauders sat in a circle – as per tradition – and began opening each other's gifts. Peter got Sirius a book about Muggle cars and motorbikes and a pink, studded dog collar. Remus had gotten him a muzzle – Peter laughed appreciatively at this – and three new Muggle records. Sirius received new dragon-hide boots and several chew toys from James.

Sirius grinned as the other boys opened their gifts. Peter received a horrible Christmas jumper, a hamster ball, and a book on poker, a Muggle card game that he had taken a liking to, from Sirius; a new set of Wizard's Chess from James; and an array of sweets from Remus. Remus received a box of steaks, a Christmas jumper as hideous as Peter's, and a book of pain-relieving and healing charms from Sirius; a few newly-published novels from Peter; socks, a new winter jacket, and a large box of sweets from James. James received a broom polishing kit from Peter; a book of advanced defense magic from Remus; a large harness that was complete with jingling bells, a new telescope, and the worst Christmas jumper of the bunch from Sirius.

Sirius grinned widely and gestured for his friends to put their jumpers on, pulling one for himself out of his trunk. James groaned loudly when he realized his had reindeers on it. "Padfoot, why do I always get the reindeers?"

"I don't know _dear_ Prongs, why would I give you the reindeers?" Sirius said, laughing at his own joke. Remus threw a pillow at him, but Sirius caught it and stuck his tongue out at Remus. Sirius moved over to the large record player next to his bed, waving his wand and muttering a charm to get it working. As it sprang to life, Sirius dug into his trunk, retrieving a record, which he set onto the player. He set the needle and grinned as some Muggle Christmas songs began to play quietly through their dorm.

James smiled softly, tugging on his jumper. "Happy Christmas, Padfoot." Sirius turned to grin at James. "Happy Christmas, Prongs. You too, Moony, Wormtail – happy Christmas." They returned the sentiments to Sirius as he began humming along to the music, setting his gifts neatly at the foot of his bed.

The boys returned to their own beds, content to listen to the music that Sirius was so fond of. The remained that way for nearly twenty minutes – silent, comfortable, and happy to relish in their last Christmas spent at Hogwarts.

Suddenly, Sirius sat up, turning to grin at James. "Oi, Prongs, don't you have a gift to give Evans?"

James turned slightly red and muttered something about giving it to her in private. Sirius wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and said, "Oh, in private, hmmm?" James spluttered, trying to explain that he didn't mean it like _that_ while Sirius laughed at his friend's flustered state.

"Mate," he said finally, cutting off James' ramblings, "I wasn't serious – well I was, but you know what I mean." James rolled his eyes at the pun and Sirius caught the look Peter and Remus exchanged before her continued, grinning widely at James. "Can we go wake her?"

"What?" James asked, looking concerned. "I don't know Padfoot…" he trailed off and looked at Sirius critically.

"Too bad, we're going to do it anyway. C'mon, Pete, I've got a great idea!" Sirius shot James another grin as he rushed out of the dormitory, grabbing Peter by the shoulder on his way out. Peter's protests followed them down the stairs and James turned to Remus.

"Honestly, we might as well follow along. At least we can stop him from doing something too ridiculous," Remus said. James nodded and they also made their way out of the dormitory, leaving the door open so that the Christmas music could drift down to the Common Room.


	2. Lily

Sirius sat patiently at the bottom of the staircase that led to the girls' dormitories as James paced nervously and Remus watched the two from an armchair near the fire.

Suddenly, a rat came skittering down the stairs and across the common room, coming to rest next to Remus' chair, where it turned into Peter.

A few seconds later, footsteps thundered down the staircase and Sirius moved hastily out of the way as Lily came running down the stairs. "What the bloody hell was Peter doing in my dorm? Better yet, why was he in my bed, whiskers tickling my face when I woke up?" she shouted.

Peter shifted uncomfortably at the look James shot him, but Sirius bounded up to Lily, hugging her and giving her a loud kiss on the cheek. "Morning, Lilypad, and happy Christmas to you, too!" She struggled out of his grip and glared at him. Sirius rolled his eyes, muttering to himself. "Merlin, am I the only person in the Christmas spirit anymore?" He raised his voice to normal level and addressed Lily. "We needed to wake you up so that we could give you your gifts."

Lily brightened considerably at this. "Gifts?" She asked, looking at each of the boys before her eyes landed back on Sirius.

"Yes, gifts. Only if you're a good girl, though." Lily rolled her eyes at the comment.

"Can you give me a minute to run upstairs and get your gifts?" Lily asked. Sirius grinned happily. "There's the Christmas spirit! Of course, just be quick." Lily turned to dash back upstairs and Sirius all but skipped to sit on the sofa across from Remus, James following him. Peter opted for the other armchair and they waited patiently for Lily.

She returned a minute later, slightly out of breath and with a dressing gown on over the pyjamas, presents cradled in her arms. She handed them out to each of the boys before sitting in between James and Sirius on the sofa.

Sirius tore into his gift quickly and before Lily knew what was going on, she was pushed over into James' lap with Sirius' entire body weight on top of her. Her face was buried in Sirius hair and his arms were wrapped tightly around her middle while he repeated "thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Lily struggled for breath while Peter and Remus burst into laughter. James looked torn between laughter and concern, but his mirth seemed to win as he coughed out a poorly-concealed chuckle.

After a few more _thank you's_ and a wet kisses to Lily's cheek, James took pity on her and said, "Er, Padfoot, maybe let her breathe a bit, yeah?"

Sirius immediately sat back up, pulling a bemused-looking Lily with him. "So, you like it then?" she asked, smiling at him.

"I love it!" he exclaimed, looking close to knocking her over with another hug. He settled for bouncing excited and pulling the leather jacket on over his pyjamas. The look wasn't the best, but Sirius didn't care.

"What are the rest of you waiting for?" he asked excitedly. "Open your gifts from Lilyflower so that she can open mine to her!"

Remus rolled his eyes but tore into the paper that covered his gift. Peter quickly followed suit and soon both were grinning widely and thanking Lily just as vigorously as Sirius had.

Lily had hand-knit Remus a matching scarf and hat and bought Peter a new Gobstones set. Lily turned to watch James open his gift, which he unwrapped carefully. Sirius rolled his eyes at this, pretending to yawn and check the time.

James unwrapped it, exclaimed, "Bloody hell!" and set the framed and autographed picture of his favorite chaser from the Catapults down before wrapping Lily in a hug. "You're amazing," he said, kissing her.

Sirius coughed no-so-politely, but the couple ignored him for the most part, save for James making a rude gesture at him. "Lily, don't you want your presents?" Sirius asked loudly. James groaned and shot Sirius a dirty look as Lily pulled away from him and turned to grin at Sirius. "I'm last." James let out a noise of protest. "Fine, Prongs can go last since he's your boyfriend and apparently that means his gifts are the best. I'll go second-to-last."

Lily just shook her head and accepted the small package that Peter handed to her.

Next, Lily opened her gift from Remus. She smiled brightly and thanked him, setting the book she had been given next to her as Sirius shoved his gift into her lap. Lily laughed at his antics, but he just motioned for her to open it. She ripped into it eagerly, letting out a small shriek and turning to wrap Sirius in a tight hug.

"Sirius Black, if I had known you were so good at gift-giving I would have become friends with you much sooner!" Sirius laughed at that and hugged Lily back. She pulled away, still grinning, to look at the pair of leather boots he had gotten her.

"I saw you looking at them in Hogsmeade the other weekend, and suggested to James that he get them for you, but he had already gotten you a gift, so I thought I might as well buy them," he explained smugly. Lily hugged him again, thanking him with a kiss on the cheek before she turned to James.

He awkward ran a hand his hair and handed her a package. He watched nervously as she opened it and gasped. Sirius was peering into her lap and his eyes lit up. He shot James a grin and a quick thumbs up and James relaxed slightly.

Lily turned to him, hugging him tightly and thanking him, quietly exclaiming, "They're gorgeous!"

She took the simple silver bracelet out first, fastening it around her wrist before holding the necklace up for James. The silver pendent sparkled prettily, a doe and a stag engraved on one side, and a lily engraved on the other.

He fumbled slightly while fastening the necklace and she let her hair down, turning to face him and asking, "How does it look?" He smiled in response and she grinned back.

"Wait, wait, I have one more thing for you, Lilypad!" Lily turned to Sirius curiously while James left out a soft groan, knowing what was coming. Sirius dropped another package into Lily's lap and she unwrapped it, pulling out a Christmas jumper that was as hideous as the ones that all of the boys were wearing. She giggled and thanked Sirius, promising to wear it later that day and he grinned widely, wishing her a happy Christmas.

**A/N:** This chapter was supposed to be more of a drabble, but it got away from me. There was also more Lily/James than I wanted, but that also got away from me. Whoops. I didn't have a beta, so feel free to point out any errors in this. Reviews and that are all lovely. Thanks for reading!


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